This invention relates to a pneumatic massage mat for the pneumatic massage of any desired regions of the human body lying supine or prone on the mat.
Pneumatic massage equipment use a pneumatically expandable/contractable air bag which is placed on the floor and discontinuously expanded and contracted with the human body lying thereon. Air under pressure is fed into and bled from air chambers defined in the air bag in given sequence to expand and contract the air bag to thereby apply local pressure to the body for massage.
Since an air bag is expanded such that air chambers are most bulged at their central portion, the body lying on the bag becomes unstable. Moreover, in case of supine lying, the pressure force is concentrated to a region straight above the spine and is not applied to those effective spots located in series on opposite sides of the spine, failing to provide appropriate and effective massage. Since the opposed side portions of the air bag impart a less pressure force to the body when expanded, the supply of compressed air to the side portions is wasteful.